SSi Forum

Breakthroughs: Does anybody have small successes/breakthroughs speaking Cymraeg they want to share?

#1265

Hoping this will encourage. Not really about me except to say that anyone would be able to do this if I can.

I’ve been around the forum for few years now but remember when I started and was too nervous to speak. After many small steps, I now have little conversations in work throughout the day about real life things - all thanks to SSi and the forum. One of the main things for me has been confidence over fear.

Moving on, I have now completed the shorter SSiManx course which is a great way to move into Gaelic as it is in my opinion, the nearest Gaelic language to Welsh.

From there I have started to learn Scottish Gaelic, and have taken the step of pushing myself straight into speaking, rather than holding on for years as I did in Welsh. It definitely seems to be paying off.

Just as a footnote - My daughter has told me that one of our grandaughters is starting to learn the Twi dialect of Ghanaian from our son in law. So I have dipped my foot in the water and have learnt three words (How are you?). Then I tried them out on my son in law via voice recorder and he answered.

No going back now! As I said - Reason for posting is to spur you all on. Even if like me you only have three words.

#1266

Brilliant John - no stopping you now! You’re becoming an amlieithydd goiawn! (real polyglot!) :star2:

#1267

Dim cweit (Not really) :smiley:

#1268

Only twice each? I have done challenge 14 four times and sent a question to the forum. Think I may have a go at 15 today.

#1269

Thats impressive @Howard. I’m inspired. I’ve been given the challenge by my local butchers to come in and only speak Welsh to him…including ordering all my meat. I love a challenge. Keep it up.

#1270

Do move onto 15! I didn’t wait until I could do them, and it actually got easier after that. Before you know it you’ll be talking about meeting sisters and telling someone who worked with your brother with ease :grinning:

#1271

So I’m doing pretty well at the challenge and managing to get most of the Welsh out in time and then Aran comes out with some phrase like “blah blah feel like doing something interesting” which was fine, but caught me out - I was slowed down by trying to work out what the Welsh was for diddorol. I even had to go back and check that Aran had actually said “interesting” and not “diddorol”.
Clearly the rewiring in my brain is still a work-in-progress!

#1272

That’s great. Did I understand correctly that your brain understood something and you weren’t sure which language it was in? If so, that’s a real step forward.

#1273

I have to say that I think ssiw is amazing, I tell everyone about it! I went to a lovely Welsh chat evening last night and chatted to compete strangers in Welsh for 3 hours! I understood most of the general conversation (I think!) and I could speak enough Welsh to join in naturally and have a fantastic time. I’m glad that the course teaches you how to say ‘I’m surprised at how much I can say in a short time’ because I used that one :grinning:

#1274

That’s brilliant, Emma. Da iawn . You’ll soon tune in to them.

Just to say that I was back in Llandysul working for the tarmac gang from Lampeter, who were the first to ever speak Welsh with me a couple of years ago. I remember that being a terrifying experience and not realising what they had actually said until I had got home. :smiley:

What a difference today was, just chatting normally with them; Wow. Also chatting to residents and me understanding most of it. One lady even started copying me, as if I was speaking some sort of cool big city Welsh :smiley: Fair play, that did throw me a bit. To be fair they loved my Swansea/Bangor hybrid dialect.

#1275

Hi Howard! Yes- I run a Gwesty in Llanberis with my wife and last weekend we had a mother and daughter stay . They were both north Wales ladies so I decided I would converse only in Cymraeg with them! I’ve been[quote=“Howard, post:1, topic:6708, full:true”]
Today I successfully paid my Council Tax (Treth Cyngor) yn Gymraeg for the first time! I started SSiW in March this year so this is remarkable progress for me. I asked for a Skype coaching session with @margaretnock first to practice and run through what the usual, fairly predictable format is. Armed with my cribsheet I nervously picked up the phone, the woman I spoke to was friendly and welcoming and it seemed like it was successful, I now hope that I didn’t say to many '0’s and I get a rude awakening when I look at my bank account! Has anybody else had a breakthrough that’s done wonders for their confi

learning for 10 months and just completed level 3. They realised I was a beginner and spoke to me slowly but I was able to check that they were ok, that they had slept well, what they wanted for breakfast and chatted about their plans for the day. Not perfect but a great confidence boost and (like everyone in the village) they were very supportive of my endeavours to learn Welsh !